A Thought About Bulk Priming

[Tim F]

I sometimes rack to a second fermenter before putting a brew in the fridge to cold condition. I've been wondering if it would work if I bulk primed at this point as soon as the temp was down to 1 or 2C, and left it in the fridge for a few days to a week before bottling. My hope was that this would mean I can then bottle straight out of the fridge without racking again, which I like to minimise to avoid oxidation. I guess the questions are, would the yeast be totally dormant at this temperature or might it still get to work on a bit of my priming sugar? And would the sugar stay completely in solution for the whole week at this temperature or could some of it settle out and result in different sugar concentrations in the fermenter?
Any thoughts?

 

[barls]

the yeast would eat part of the sugars as it goes slower not stopping completely

 

[T.D.]

If you have already racked to a secondary fermenter there's no real need to rack again when bulk priming. Just gently pour the priming solution into the fermenter and stir it in without sloshing the beer around. I would just do that right before bottling. But yeah, like barls said, I think its a bit risky priming a few days before bottling - even if it is sitting at 1-2deg. Probably bugger fermentation would happen but even if a small amount did occur, your carbonation specs would be all out. If racking a third time is what you are trying to avoid, then just bulk prime in the secondary vessel. This is the way I always do it (mostly in primary actually!).

 

[brendanos]

Have you had problems with oxidation or flavour stability in that you've developed undesirable cardboard/sherry flavours over time? If yes than I guess you need to figure it out, but if not maybe you're overanalysing the situation.

 

[Quintrex]

I would imagine that any carbon dioxide formed as a result of fermentation at that temp (1-2 deg.) would dissolve in the solution quite readily with minimal loss to atmosphere, thus not really changing the degree of carbonation for the amount of priming.
But experiment is king!